Global Mission (Literature and History of Aviation) [Hardcover]

Henry Harley Arnold (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 626 pages
• Publisher: Ayer Co Pub (July 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0405037503
• ISBN-13: 978-0405037504
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,011,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Jennies" to B-29's, "Hap" Tells The Story Of The U.S.A.F., November 15, 2002

By 

Harold Y. Grooms (Prattville, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Global Mission (Military Classics Series) (Hardcover)

From "Jennies" to B-29's, from a Second Lieutenant to Five Stars, General of the Army Henry H. Arnold chronicles the history of military aviation in this autobiographical account of his 42-year career. "Hap" begins with the earliest days of aviation starting with the Wright Brothers. He then describes the role played by aviators in two world wars, and ends with the first stirrings of the Cold War. In simple terms you hear learn how it really was from a key leader in the greatest conflicts of the 20th Century.

World War I ended before America could bring its full weight to bear. When the Armistice was signed, the U.S. was still struggling to create an Army. America was reduced to begging and borrowing equipment, including planes, for her pilots to fly. As a result, U.S. military aviators never had a chance to demonstrate their true potential. Germany and Japan recognized aviation's potential. The U.S did not! America would pay a high price for her shortsightedness a short time later.

He then details the struggles of aviation pioneers, such as Billy Mitchell, who fought against a military mentality that saw airplanes as little more than an extension of the Civil-War era balloon corps. One can almost feel Mitchell's frustration! He ultimately chose martyrdom, virtually forcing the military to court-martial him to publicize his cause. Were his tactics appropriate? You decide!

Pearl Harbor brought isolationist America to her senses! Gen. Arnold details the difficulties of putting the nation's economy on a war footing. Unfortunately, the same lessons had had to be learned in WWI. American servicemen would again pay a high price, in blood, for our unpreparedness when World War II began only a few decades after, "The War to End War's," ended. "Haps" job was allocating air assets around the world. Telling political leaders such as Winston Churchill, Chiang Kai Shek, and Joe Stalin, as well as military commanders including Eisenhower, Macarthur, Nimitz and Stillwell who were watching their charges die every day, someone else needed planes worse than they did, was not a job for the faint-hearted. Arnold did this unenviable task for four long years. At last, exhausted and in ill health, he retired to his ranch in Sonoma, and wrote this valuable contribution to history.

The Military Classics series allowed key military leaders to tell their stories in their own words. Immensely popular after WWII, they seem to have been forgotten by generations that now consider WWII ancient history. This is a shame! Their stories still shape the world we live in and will for decades to come. This book, and other's like it, needs to be rediscovered in order to fully comprehend history thereby enabling us to understand our current role in world events.